Last weekend was my mom's birthday, so we took her out to breakfast and then we went antique shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All those exclamation points are for my mom 'cause that is how she feels when she gets to go looking at antiques. She really loves to look, even if she doesn't buy anything. This time last year my mom was in the hospital, and her birthday was a pretty awful day for her, so this year we had to make it especially fun, and I think we succeeded. The first store we went to was Antique Plaza on Main Street in downtown Mesa.
While my sister and mom looked all over the store and were ready to move on to the store next door, I got lost looking at tiny old photos in a cigar box. Hundreds of photos. After a while I figured they must have all been from the same large family. Some had words and dates written on the back; a lot of them didn't. I decided I wanted some, and I would have gotten all of them if I could have, but I had to narrow it down to just a few, so you'll see the ones I got, along with my musings about them.
When I went to purchase them, the store owner told me a few things. I think I will have to go back to the store and ask her about them again, because all that stuck in my head was that one of the men in the family died tragically in a car accident traveling to Florida for vacation. They were a family living in West Orange, New Jersey during the Great Depression and they vacationed in Cuba. Of all the things the store owner told me, the vacationing in Cuba part really stuck out to me, because, can you imagine, pre-Communist Cuba? That sounds so dreamy.
So, here they are -->
This photo was taken on July 9th, 1944, which would have been a Sunday. War time and just a few days after the 4th of July. I wonder if they were all together for a big event, like a birthday, or just for Sunday dinner, or did they always have this many family members around. Looking at this photo just seems like looking at Summer. I can feel the humid hotness and how long the day was just looking at this. I love the summer dresses the women are wearing. There's an address on the back of this photo and when I typed it into Google maps, it took me to a neighborhood in New Jersey. I looked at the street view and saw a big white house in a neighborhood. I so wonder if it was theirs. It seemed really kind of surreal and strange to be able to type their address into Google and maybe come across their house.
Big family photos can be so challenging to take, but looking at one like this makes me realize what an awesome keepsake they are.
Merle Lawrence went to the shore (the Jersey Shore maybe?) in 1931, possibly in June. I wish I could see her face closer. How old does she look? I'm thinking she looks kind of young, 14 or 15 maybe. I actually love how the the girl and the car are centered so much in the middle of the frame. So, I was writing this and thinking, Wait, is Merle even a girl's name? The back of the photo says Merle Lawrence 6-1931. So then I looked up the name Merle on some baby name website and it says that Merle is the French word for blackbird and that between 1910 and 1920, Merle was the 323rd most common name for girls and the 198th most common name for boys. By 1979, it was the 993rd most popular name for boys and didn't even rank in the top 1000 for girls. I think it's pretty. Maybe time to bring it back! I think it would make a good middle name.
"Elizabeth Smith, 1919" is what the back of this one reads. This photo got picked because she is petting the dog, who looks like a big puppy. I am really curious about where she is at. Was she on vacation? Is that a cabin or a house behind her? The land looks kinda swampy, like South Georgia or the Western-Northern part of Florida.
The man in the middle - does he have two pipes in his mouth? And is she turning back to see him doing that? I picture the guy with the camera being like, Here, hold this, while I take a picture and she's turning back to laugh. This photo immediately got picked because of the man taking a photograph of whoever was taking a photograph of him. They look like they hiked up to this mountain top area on a windy afternoon for picnicking. Anyone have any idea where they might be? It would probably be somewhere in New York or New Jersey...
And here they are again, posing more properly for the photo, but with the boxy camera laying on the ground, a detail I love. What decade do you think this was?
This one has the date Sunday July 11, 1926 on the back. And that was enough for me to want it because what could be more perfect than a Sunday in July (no matter what decade)? She looks so flapper perfect. They look so style-y, like they were all friends with Tom and Daisy and got invited over all the time to Jay Gatsby's place that one summer a few years back. See the heart carved in the tree? Love that. I am always on the look out when I take photos of hearts, or something that suggests the shape of a heart. I also like how the shadow of the photographer is just a little bit in the frame. Looks like early Spring, maybe? Since leaves haven't really come on the trees, but her dress doesn't look like something you would wear in the fall. Did she turn her head to the side to get the cute hair style and barrette in the image?
So this guy here kind of looks like the Cake Boss to me. Kind of. A younger version of Buddy Valastro. I don't exactly watch that show, but nevertheless it seems to always be on television, so I think I have seen a lot of it. And Oh! I just noticed something. There's a little black cat in the background. This family must have liked pets. Cats and dogs show up in a lot of their images. There's no date or text on this one.
Don't they all look so smiley and dapper and adorable? I think I fell in love with this family just looking at their photos. Or at least I fell in love with the stories I made up about them in my head. There's no date or words on the back of this one. What decade would you guess this one is from? They are all so dressed up and it looks like maybe it was kind of cold, but not so cold that the girl in the middle (Merle, maybe?) isn't wearing a jacket. Maybe it was Easter.
While I was looking at these photos, I thought of a song I haven't heard of in forever. Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant sing the lyrics, about finding an old photograph and wondering about the girl in the photograph. Have you ever heard the song? It's really pretty and here are the lyrics to it:
I found this photograph,
Underneath the broken picture glass
Tender face of black and white,
Beautiful, a haunting sight
Looked into an angel's smile,
Captivated all the while
From the hair and clothes she wore,
I'd place her in between the wars
Was she willing when she sat
And posed the pretty photograph?
Save her flowering and fair,
The days to come, the days to share
A big smile for the camera,
How did she know?
The moment could be lost forever
Forever more
I found this photograph,
Stashed between the old joist walls,
In a place where time is lost,
Lost behind, where all things fall
Broken books and calendars,
Letters script in careful hand,
Music too, a standard tune by
Some forgotten big brass band
From the threshhold what's to see
Of our brave new century?
The television's just a dream,
The radio, the silver screen
A big smile for the camera,
How did she know?
The moment could be lost forever
Forever more
Was her childhood filled with rhymes,
Stolen looks, impassioned crimes?
Was she innocent or blind
To the cruelty of her time?
Was she fearful in her day,
Was she hopeful, did she pray?
Were there skeletons inside,
Family secrets, sworn to hide?
Did she feel the heat that stirs,
The fall from grace of wayward girls?
Was she tempted to pretend,
The love and laughter, 'til the end?
